


Rodents

by Higgies230



Series: Mismatched Family [13]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Good Parent Mickey Milkovich, M/M, Married Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Parent Ian Gallagher, Pets, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 09:17:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17444129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgies230/pseuds/Higgies230
Summary: “Responsibility?” Ian questioned, brows furrowed.“Yes, a little animal- pet. You know, like a hamster or a mouse or something little that lives in a cage,” Manda explained.





	Rodents

  Ian and Mickey were sat, curled up on the couch together in the quiet after a long day watching the movie that Manda and Ronan had abandoned them to. Alex was out with Alice, Ronan and Manda had both disappeared up to their rooms at different points. Ian couldn’t complain, not while he was lying out on the sofa with Mickey lying in the v of his legs, both half asleep.

  Their peace lasted only a moment longer however before they heard footsteps coming down the stairs and towards them. As she grew, Manda differed from her older brothers in that she didn’t feel the need to imitate a herd of elephants as she came down the stairs- at least they got it right with one in three.

  Manda came into view and Ian stopped the motion of his fingers through his husband’s dark hair as they both sat up, taking in their daughter and seeing that she had something she wanted to say. Neither man had any intention of starting the conversation, instead waiting as Manda squirmed slightly in front of them.

  “Now that I’m in high school I was wondering if I could um- could have some more responsibility,” she got out after the awkward moment- well awkward for her.

  “Responsibility?” Ian questioned, brows furrowed.

  “Yes, a little animal- pet. You know, like a hamster or a mouse or something little that lives in a cage,” Manda explained.

  The husbands exchanged looks and then Ian looked back to their daughter. Normally they would be able to tell what the other would be thinking from all of the years that they had spent together but that look told Ian nothing at all about what Mickey was thinking. Pet? They had Bear of course but that was a dog and not some delicate little rodent that could be killed all too easily.

  “How about you go back upstairs and we’ll talk about it, tell you tomorrow,” Ian suggested and Manda nodded quickly, hastily beating a retreat.

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Mickey announced as soon as they heard the bedroom door open and shut upstairs.

  “What? Why?” Ian returned straight away, turning to stare at the older man.

  “Well think about it, a small creature in a cage that will live a few years at most. There won’t be too much work and it will give her something to be responsible for, teach her about death and all that shit as well. That’s why people give their kids pets ain’t it? Well one of the reasons, but having a pet die to teach yah is a lot better than what we grew up with,” Mickey explained.

  Ian took a moment to digest the words, thinking about all of the pros to the suggestion. Hamsters weren’t even expensive to keep once you brought the cage, couldn’t be with their size. Just because they didn’t have experience didn’t mean that their kids couldn’t.

  “Okay, but we’ll have to let the boys choose something too,” Ian conceded.

  Mickey grinned brightly at him and pulled him down by his neck for a kiss.

***

  The next morning when the five Milkovich-Gallaghers sat down for breakfast, it was clear that Manda was anxious to ask about their decision. Both Mickey and Ian had however decided to do so after they had finished eating because they were cruel parents so the pair of them just sat there with the children eating their cereal and toast.

  After they had decided that they had made their daughter squirm enough, Ian collected the plates and turned back around to address the three. The redhead glanced at Mickey who nodded and Ian cleared his throat to get the twins and Manda’s attention.

  “Last night boys, Manda came and asked if she could have a little pet,” Ian started, “Papa and I thought about it and decided that it was a good idea although if she gets one it’s only fair you two do as well.”

  “Thank you Dad!” Manda exclaimed, launching herself at Ian, wrapping her arms around him.

  “Thank you!” the twins exclaimed at the same time- a regular habit of theirs. They two came and hugged him as Mickey looked on.

  “You shouldn’t be thanking me, it was your papa that talked me around, go pile onto him,” Ian laughed.

  The three pulled back and glanced between the two parents before swarming Mickey instead.

***

  Ian got off work and home and hour after the kids got home from school. He could admit to himself that he was excited to get home, they had decided that they were going to take the kids to the pet store tonight and use their savings to buy everything they needed. They hadn’t told their kids that that morning so he couldn’t wait to see the looks on their faces, all he needed to do was change out of his uniform.

  His excitement made to journey on the L seem like an eternity and by the time he got off he was practically running home. It was stupid really when he thought about his hesitance from the night before. However, Ian made sure that by the time he entered the house he wasn’t red faced or panting but looking like he had just strolled back.

  Mickey looked up and smiled from his place on the sofa, well smirked was more like it. Ian went over and kissed his husband chastely before jogging up the stairs to their room. Already changing after kicking the door closed, Ian heard Mickey telling the kids downstairs to get ready to go out and smiled as he heard the buzz of their questions which Mickey wouldn’t answer. They were smart enough anyway to work it out- they had all inherited Mickey’s brains, lucky for them.

 As soon as Ian joined them all back downstairs, they were leaving, getting into the car and driving off.

***

  Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces were the best thing, they walked into the pet store and the three of them looked around in wonder. Ian and Mickey had told them that they could choose a hamster, mouse, rat or gerbil, one of the little rodents that can be kept in cages. Ian personally didn’t know which one he would choose so it was probably a good job that it was up to the kids to decide.

  In the end they left the store with two cages as the twins had both chosen rats, creatures that apparently couldn’t be kept on their own. The rats were boys, Ronan had chosen a brown and white one calling it Remy after the one from that animated movie and Alex had a grey one with a white belly calling him Splinter. Manda had gone with a hamster, a big fluffy white girl that she’d called Jessica. The girl was whispered to her new pet the entire drive home and Ian had been able to watch her in the rear-view mirror and decided that Mickey was more than right in talking him into this.


End file.
